invasio

Forms

invāsiō f (genitive invāsiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin invādō (“to enter, attack”) + -tiō, a noun of action from the verb.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds no example before the 4th century.^[2] Köbler's first source is Ambrose, where it means an attack.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin used it for a hostile attack or invasion, where earlier writers had said incursio or aggressio;^[3] Symmachus has it in his letters,^[3] and Tiberius Claudius Donatus speaks of defending a city against the invasion of the Trojans.^[2]

In medieval Latin it also meant violence in general and, in law, the usurpation or unlawful seizure of property.^[5] The early medieval law codes use it,^[4] and in English law invasio domus was house-breaking, an assault on someone in their own home.^[6] English took invasion from it through Old French in the 15th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it for an attack.^[4]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it in a letter.^[3][4]
• mid-15th century – English borrows invasion through Old French.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An attack, invasion.^[3][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) Violence.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin, law) Usurpation, unlawful seizure of property.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin, law) invasio domus: house-breaking, assault on a person in their home.^[6]

Related words

• English invasion

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com